Documentation topics every Configuration Manager admin should know

Being in the product support side of the business allows you to see a lot of different issues, some unique, some not, but it also offers a glimpse into the issues people seem to have the most trouble with. We recently did some analysis of some of the most popular content as well as some of the common call generators and came up with a few topics that seem to be not only highly viewed, but also contain information that would likely help solve quite a few of the support issues we seem to get.

With all that in mind, I’m starting a new series of posts on the top documentation topics that anyone installing, using or overseeing a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 environment should read and bookmark. How regularly these will come out I can’t say, it’ll just depend on how quickly I can work them in. And these won’t necessarily solve every issue you might encounter or even make you a ConfigMgr expert, but they’ll serve you well when it comes to preventing problems and maximizing your effectiveness and productivity.

The first topic may seem like a no-brainer but you might be surprised how many times we see issues where this information would have prevented a headache or two down the road. So what is this magical topic and what kind of information does it contain? The title of this particular piece is Prerequisites for Installing Configuration Manager. Sure, this may sound simple but there are some details explained here that will save you a ton of pain and heartache later – things that really do matter. Things like what hotfixes should be applied, what components should be installed, etc. So while the temptation may be to just pop in the CD and work out the details later (unfortunately my far too typical approach), give this a good read before you start and you’ll find yourself well on the path to a successful, trouble free ConfigMgr installation.